January 2014 Meeting Minutes

January 2014 Meeting Minutes

Here are the meeting minutes from the January gathering held on January 16th, 2014.

First of all, a thank you goes to Tim Martin for hosting the meeting.  Stout and stogie night is always a huge hit and probably the most anticipated meeting of the year. 

We introduced the officers, held a roll call and the following members and guests were present:

Bryan Conway

Pete Frye

Greg Bergquist

Rob Jones

Dennis Overby

Ben Chapman

Jeremy Davis

Luke Dobbs

Tim Martin

Terry Laurie

Phil Smith

Mike Dawson

Brett (Mike Dawson's Guest)

Sam Lewis

Dick Smith

Dustin Canestorp

If anyone was accidentally excluded or a mistake to the list noted, please let me know and I will correct the minutes.

The Treasurer's Report revealed by Ben Chapman indicates that we have lots of money...  Around $1,500=/-?

Old Business/Recent Events:

A big thank you goes to Travis Watson for hosting the Christmas Party last month.  Everybody attending had a great time.  Thanks Travis! 

The members attending the Mill Whistle tasting gave a glowing account of the event,  Dennis and Jeremy were pleased to have been able to attend.  Looking forward to more events like this but most importantly, another brewery possibly starting in our local area.

Committee updates:

The Crystal Coast Brew Off Committee Chairman, Ben Chapman, reported that all is going well with the planning and preparations for this year's CCBO.  Dustin announced the Beer Army's extremely exciting contributions to this year's event.  On top of allowing us to continue having the event at the Combat Brewery, The Beer Army offered to:

·         Donate some assorted items such as glassware/tees/etc.

·         Pay for 5 double occupancy rooms (two judges/room=10 judges) at a local hotel for a night.  The rooms would be offered to judges as an incentive to travel here for the competition and would be reserved for judges travelling 200+ miles.

·         Allow the winner of the Best of Show award to brew their recipe on the Beer Army Combat Brewery's commercial system for distribution across the State of North Carolina.  NICE!

New/Old business:

Monthly Club Competition Committee was approved - Terry Laurie volunteered to chair Committee and Dennis Overby and Bryan Conway volunteered to assist.  One suggestion as to how this would be instituted is:  Pooled Money with entry fee and half of entry fees going to ATF.  Competition Committee will set up the guidelines for the monthly club competitions.

Incorporation Project - it's a go.  Bryan discussed his findings from his meeting with accountant Stephanie Phillips in Morehead City.  The basic premise is that once the incorporation and non-profit status is achieved, there will be minimal upkeep to maintain the non-profit status.  Only a postcard to the IRS will be required each year.  To obtain this status, we will have to file with the NC Secretary of State ($60.00+/-), re-write the by-laws to include some necessary language, then file with the IRS ($400.00+/-) not including any unavoidable attorney/accountant fees.  This will be a long process but will open the doors to many exciting opportunities in the future.  Motion was passed to proceed.

Web Site:  Webmaster Rob Jones reports that we have:

·         a Go Daddy account for the next 2 years, paid for: http://www.atfhomebrewclub.com.  

·         We have 5 email accounts, one of which will be used by the CCBO committee: ccbo@atfhomebrewclub.com.

·         QR code to add to advertising materials:  

Use of the yahoo email:  Discussed using the forum for most chatting and trying to get away from the yahoo group email.  Yahoo can still be used for important announcements, just keep it to a minimum.  We have a website now - use it.

Rob also called for nominations for this month's "Brewer of the Month" page and Dennis Overby was selected.  Go to the website to see a quick bio on Dennis.

Rob proposed looking into organizing a Home Brew Festival similar to what Brew Durham has become, to be held in conjunction with the CCBO.  The CCBO could be held on one night and the festival the next.  There seemed to be a lot of interest and he will begin studying the possibilities and requirements.  This could become a serious event on the calendar for all homebrewers in our region.  This may not be able to be done this year, but next year is plausible.

Jolly Skull - 5 members attending to man the booth.  A huge thanks to Dustin and the Beer Army for allowing us to do this again, Thanks Dustin!

Breathalyzer - Last meeting, the motion was passed to look into acquiring a commercial grade breathalyzer for use at the meetings.  Due to the inherent cost of such a piece of equipment, the need to retain liquidity of funds is more important in light of the upcoming year (incorporating, CCBO 2014).  The motion was passed to table the project at least until after CCBO 2014 is behind us.

Business Cards - Motion passed to get business cards produced for members to pass out.  Will have logo and website on front and QR tag on back.  Simple but effective.

ATF Logo - A motion was passed to make the club logo more appealing to a broader base of residents, the term "New Bern Brew Club" will be replaced with "ATF Home Brew Club" on the banner so as to have it more generic as to region and not alienate members outside of the New Bern area.  The rest of the logo will remain unchanged.

Next Meeting will be at New Bern Home Brew Supply at 7PM on February 20th and will be sponsored by Greg Bergquist.

A discussion was started to begin forming a judging committee.  This committee will be responsible for promoting a positive judging culture within the club and get some members involved into the process of becoming a BJCP certified judge.  The formation of the committee will be on next month's agenda.

A discussion was also started to find out any details (date, amount, cost...) and gauge an interest level on the Mill Whistle Brew day but Travis was unable to attend the meeting so not much could be determined other than what was in the original announcement.  There was several members that wish to participate.  More will be discussed about this later.

This year's meeting sponsors will be:

·         February-Greg Bergquist

·         March sponsor - Ben Chapman

·         April sponsor - Bryan Conway

·         May sponsor - Luke Dobbs

·         June sponsor - Terry Laurie

·         July sponsor - Phil Smith

·         August - need a volunteer

·         September - need a volunteer

·         Oktoberfest - Dennis Overby

·         November - need a volunteer

Motion passed to adjourn the meeting, drink some beer and smoke some stogies.